Juliet Landon

Stories of two women over two generations linked by pushy men who won't allow them to say no. I actually had problems with this, instead of trying to woo them they just ran roughshod over the women and didn't really feel loverly but in many ways unpleasant, I wanted to like the stories and the detail felt quite historical but this wasn't my sort of romance, I prefer wooing.

Two stories feature in this book, one post-restoration (1676) and the other regency (1803); the first features an show more entertaining fencing competition the second had a widow who loses her house when her brother gambles it away.

I just didn't feel it, I wanted to like the story and the characters but somehow felt that it was more historical novel than romance, probably quite correct for the era but not for my tastes. I like wooing not women whose choices are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Readable, somewhat entertining but not what I was expecting and not romantic enough for me. show less

Letitia Boyce is certainly unconventional. Rather than follow her mother's wishes and join the husband-hunt, Letty decides to open an equally unconventional seminary for well-born young ladies. The last thing she wants to get involved with is her younger sisters' current escort Lord Seton Rayne.

I really liked Letty. She's very clever, a talented writer, and wants much more than to be some man's arm-candy. But just because she doesn't want to be stuck in a very limiting gender role doesn't show more mean she's not interested in experiencing the joys of courtship and a relationship (emotional and physical) with a man. And I can identify whole-heartedly with that.

There's nothing I can point to particularly that was bad about this story. But despite the great heroine, I never connected with the hero, and I just wasn't drawn into the story.

More at my blog. show less

Sometimes interesting but ultimately it left me a bit underwhelmed. Henrietta Raemon is the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII and she longs to get close to her sister Elizabeth, the Queen, she is quite singleminded and doesn't take into account the complicated politics of the English Court. She is tricked into marriage with Baron Somerville and she resents this somewhat, but she learns to love him and discovers that they have more in common than she first thought.

I just didn't connect show more with the characters and while I found some of it interesting (Juliet Landon has done her research and it shows) I just didn't care for Henrietta and didn't really feel any sympathy for her. Not a bad read but I didn't really care enough. show less

Caterina Chester has abandoned two previous engagements and now finds that her father is willing to trade her for her brother's debts. She's outraged but also finds herself attracted to Sir Chase Boston. He's a rake but she's interested. He's also attracted to her.

It's a pretty predictable regency romance but the characters themselves sparkle off the page. Landon created characters that I liked and had some investment in.

I liked the detail that part of it was set on Paradise Road where the show more UK HQ of Harlequin (Mills&Boon) is. show less